Publicity about affair forced McGhee to resign

Posted: Monday, August 02, 2010

By Ryan Blackburn

Board members knew two months ago that Madison County schools Superintendent Mitch McGhee had an extramarital affair, but so many people were getting anonymous copies of McGhee's racy e-mails that he finally felt he had to step down.

McGhee told Madison County Board of Education members about his relationship with a North Georgia educator shortly after he learned that Athens attorney Alan Alexander had filed an open records request for his work e-mails.

Board members, ministers, the local newspaper and high-profile community leaders subsequently began receiving anonymous mailings containing copies of intimate e-mail exchanges between McGhee and the woman, according to board Chairman Jim Patton.

Patton described the situation as a personal matter that under other circumstances could have stayed "between him and his family."

"The folks who did make these accusations, they came up with these e-mails, and they did that, but they did so anonymously. Other than the e-mails - they didn't have to have proof - they could make insinuations, and when insinuations are sent out to the paper or the public, they suddenly become facts without proof," Patton said.

"It just seems like a personal issue that had become very public and had to be dealt with," he said.

McGhee, who did not respond to requests for an interview for this article, resigned last Monday after a three-hour closed-door session with the board. The board approved a $36,000 settlement and payment for 40 days of accrued vacation time.

While Patton noted the board didn't have cause to fire McGhee, the head of the Georgia School Superintendents Association pointed out that affairs and other normally private missteps can cost high-profile educators their jobs.

"Whether you like it or not, you're in a highly visible position, one where you make decisions that make some people happy and some people not so happy," said Herb Garrett, executive director of the superintendents' association.

"You're a public figure, and under those circumstances, if the details of your private life become very public, and they're controversial, then it doesn't matter if you're the superintendent or speaker of the House. You're probably in a position where you have to resign," Garrett said.

Nothing in McGhee's contract authorized the board to dismiss him for an extramarital affair, Patton said.

"In no way would I condone what he did," he said. "But at the same time, I feel for him. Yes, his image is tarnished. He not only has to rebuild from a career standpoint; his family's been hurt, and he has to rebuild those trust issues with his family."

Assistant Superintendent Allen McCannon, who was named McGhee's temporary replacement, said the job requires maintaining the public's trust.

"It's saddening things like this happen and, of course, it's going to bring out criticism, but whether it's valid or not, we've got to do our best and be professional and work very hard to make sure our community, our constituents and our stakeholders feel good about what we're doing, and they have trust in us," McCannon said.

Garrett agreed.

"If it were maybe another job that's not so highly visible, this wouldn't be all over the newspaper and wouldn't result in a resignation or firing, but if you're in a highly recognizable position, those things come into play - it just goes with the territory," he said.

Even though McGhee's gone, Madison school officials were not displeased with his achievements, and during his tenure said McGhee's leadership helped students perform better on state tests and increased the graduation rate.

"This is just an unfortunate set of events that have led up to this, but at the same time, the county's graduation rate is the highest it's ever been, and we are scoring above state averages on most test scores," Patton said. "We can tell as far as kids and learning, progress was definitely being made, and we were moving in the right direction there."

McCannon plans to get to work to shift attention from the scandal to academic achievement and the students who return to class Friday.

"Everything we do from here on out is to get our focus back on our students and getting ready to open our school year, and looking at our goals and looking at our data and moving ahead to see what things we can do to improve what we do," he said.